Vice President Joe Biden showed the world Thursday why he’s not the administration’s regular point man on health.
Appearing on NBC’s Today Show, Biden said he’d told his own family that the threat of swine flu meant he “wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now.” Air travel, whether to Mexico or not, gave him pause: “If you’re any place in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.” He went on to recommend against even riding the subway, if people have other ways to get where they need to go.
Pretty stern stuff and way off base to boot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promptly contradicted the vice president. When asked by a reporter about Biden’s comments, CDC’s acting director Richard Besser replied, “I think flying is safe, going on the subway is safe,” according to the WSJ Health Blog. “People should go out and live their lives.” He did recommend that those with fever and flu-like symptoms avoid flying.
AHCJ resources for covering swine flu, pandemics and preparednessOther infectious disease experts piled on in this item from CIDRAP News.
Biden’s gaffe came after he defended the decision to keep U.S. borders open since the influenza A (H1N1) virus has already spread into the country.
A spokeswoman for Biden rowed back from his televised comments with a statement saying Americans:
should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the Vice President has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week.
(Our emphasis added.)
